A while ago, Kia from Yummy411 posted an entry titled "Politically Pretty Makeup Challenge" to encourage all beauty bloggers who participate to create the faces of the day (FOTD) and guess what? Yours truly decided to join as well. As we all know, Election Day is on November 4th which is a month away. For those of you who haven't registered to vote and are eligible to do so, please go ahead and register yourself as a voter.

The many faces and colors of me trying to encourage you to vote!

When I came to this country, I had a lot of dreams and hopes but they were not as grand as they are now. My dream was to finish college and get a job, that's it- plain and simple. I started at a community college and worked my way up to finish my 4-year degree. It was in my alma mater that I developed a thirst for knowledge and could see myself further in education. Opportunity knocked on my door and the next thing I knew, I was in graduate school studying Environmental Science. If I were still back in my country, I would have already dropped out of school without getting any degrees and lived a very bitter life not because I am not a smart person. It's because the system does not support me and I did not see myself going any further. However, in the United States, I learn the value of hard work and earn the rewards of my work as well. Never in my life did I imagine myself doing what I do right now, especially blogging. Back home, people went to jail for freedom of speech. Here you can go online and read political blogs all over the internet, some are wonderfully written while some just lack grace and knowledge. Needless to say, I'm very thankful for where I am and what I do (although it can be better!)

As a person trained in Environmental science, I get to see things in a very different lense. The United States established itself as the number one country in globalization and brings "the stick and the carrot" tactic everywhere she goes. However, some aspects can't work that way and the environmental issue is one of those. The United States, as we know it, does not have a Department of Environment. Therefore, the Cabinet does not have any seat for the Secretary of Environment. And we do suffer! The Bush administration does reverse all the efforts done by President Clinton and until the State of the Union address in 2007 that President Bush openly admitted global warming is an issue! Shocking, isn't it?

Environmental issues, like economic issues, directly effect every single one of us not just locally but globally. Our global sustainability practices is not the strongest as we are the worst polluters in the whole world, yet our government does not have laws and regulations to prohibit such crimes. For the past two weeks, the economy has been the hottest topic of discussion and as I'm closer and closer to finish my education, the whole situation brings certain uncertainties of my future out of me. And it's really scary! Just think about it: you work so hard to achieve a certain level of academic recognition and when you head out, there's no place for you. Scary, I must say.

Now, I'm not telling you who you need to vote for and why: it's your personal decision. However, if you want a better day not only for you but for everyone else in the next generations, you need to take action and vote. A friend of mine put this quote on his email signature and I would like to put it here for us to see as well:

"If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem."

So don't be a problem, go ahead and register to vote. Now let's go back to makeup, shall we?

Green "Politically Pretty" FOTD

Eyes:

Left eye, closed

Left eye, open

Right eye

Sci-fi Channel Schematic described below :)

The eyelid area is divided into 3 parts: light green e/s in the inner corner (green color in NYX Shangri-la trio), green e/s in the middle (MAC Steamy), and dark green e/s on the outer corner (Iman Safari), each is applied with MAC 239 brush;

Use a blending brush to contour the eyelid with the light green color in a windshield swiping motion;

Highlight the brow bone area using NYX Champagne e/s (you can use a yellow e/s but Champagne does a better job highlighting in my opinion);

Line your eyes with NYC waterproof eyeliner in Teal (937A)

Go over the same area with MAC glitter eyeliner in Saucepot: I find out the glitter eyeliner does not hold itself well. However, when applied over a pencil eyeliner, it does not move!

Left eye only: use the same glitter eyeliner and paint a star. If you're lazy to paint, stick some stickers in there!